Some Nice Steel
by pacphys
Summary: A turtle discovers his favorite weapon


Some Nice Steel

Disclaimer: I don't own the mutant ninja turtles, teenage, chibi or otherwise. I don't own Splinter either. I don't get paid for this either, so please don't sue me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why you little…"

"Raphy, don't! he didn't do it on purpose!" Leo shouted to his very angry, sewage covered brother. "Besides, it's all over him too!"

Raphael glared down at his brother who was still lying on the ground where he had fallen. "Oh, get up." He ordered. "Don't fall no more, now I have to take another shower!"

Michelangelo stood up from his spot on the floor and Leo noticed something wrong.

"Mikey, you're bleeding! Raph, we have to take him home."

Raphael muttered something about clumsy baby brothers.

"We can come back later." Leo explained calmly. Splinter insisted that anytime there was blood involved they had to go home right away and get it taken care of.

"Fine, it stinks here anyway." Raphael knew the rules just as well as Leo did and started to lead the way home, his brothers close behind. To tell the truth, with as worried as Splinter always got when they were hurt out in the sewers Raph was a little concerned about Mikey as well.

"Hey guys," Michelangelo called out, "where's Donnie?"

Raphael and Leonardo turned around to look for their other brother, but Mikey was right, he was not here. The three turtles were torn, they had to get Mikey back because he was bleeding, that was the rule, but there was another rule too, you weren't supposed to leave anyone behind out in the sewers.

"Leo, you know the blood rule. We can find him later 'sides, he probably went back to the lair anyway."

"But he has to tell us when he leaves." Leo insisted. It wasn't like Don not to obey the rules.

"Oh yeah," Mikey said suddenly, slapping his forehead. "He told me his leg was hurting so he went home."

Leonardo glared at Mikey for not having shared that information while Raphael looked a little sheepish. During training that morning they'd been working on throws and he'd been a little overenthusiastic in throwing his smaller brother. Had it been Leo the amount of force he used would have been fine, but the littler turtle had sailed over the landing mat and instead slammed down hard on the concrete just beyond. That Donnie's leg hurt wasn't terribly surprising after a crash like that.

The three little turtles scurried back to the lair to find Master Splinter. When they arrived home they found Donatello on the floor with a puzzle. He looked up and smiled at them when they came in, but the smile faded and his face scrunched up as the smell emanating of Raph and Mikey hit him.

"Ew. What did you do after I left? You stink!"

"Yeah, Mikey fell!" Raphael glared at his guilty brother.

The turtle on the floor looked a little closer at them. "Mikey, you're bleeding! Come on. I can clean you up."

Donnie took Mikey by the hand and pulled him toward the bathroom area while the Raph and Leo split up to search for Master Splinter.

Entering the dojo the young turtle was surprised to see his sensei near a cabinet in the back corner of the room that hadn't been there that morning.

"Yes, my son?" The rat called out to the boy without ever turning around to see him. He already knew who was there.

Mikey's predicament took a back seat to curiosity at this point, besides Donnie had helped Master Splinter clean them up before, and he cleaned his own cuts all the time. He would take care of Mikey just fine for now.

"What's in there?" The child asked pointing to the new cabinet.

Splinter had found the cabinet in question in the junkyard. It was a little banged up but it was definitely serviceable, and his sons were reaching a point in their training that Splinter felt it was ok to add a new aspect.

"Inside that cabinet are things that you must respect. If used improperly they can cause you great harm. I need you to promise me that you will never go into that cabinet without my permission and supervision. Will you do that?"

Finally the little turtle nodded.

"Come here, my son."

The little turtle approached Master Splinter, the cabinet was too high so he held out his arms to be picked up and Splinter did so. He held the young turtle against his side and opened the doors of the cabinet one at a time.

"Whoa!"

Splinter laughed at the reaction. "We will work with some of these tomorrow. Do you have a favorite?"

The turtle in his arms scanned the plethora of objects in the cabinet and pointed to a particularly shiny one. Splinter had watched the shiny weapon draw the child's attention right off.

"That one is a sai. Now, why were you looking for me?"

"Oh no! I forgot! When we were out in the sewers Mikey fell, he was bleeding!"

Splinter sighed as he put the child back on the floor. "You know I always want to know right away when something like that happens." He scolded gently.

"I am sorry, Sensei." The little turtle apologized

"Where is he now?"

"Donnie's trying to clean him up." The little turtle was looking at the floor.

Splinter took the boy by the hand and led him from the dojo. He noticed that his son glanced back at the cabinet before they got out too far away. Michelangelo and Donatello were just exiting the bathroom area when Splinter arrived and the fourth turtle emerged from a bedroom. His youngest son was wearing what was probably a bit more gauze than necessary and from the smell of things his cuts had been very thoroughly cleaned, Splinter made a mental note to find some more antiseptic. If he trusted any of his sons to clean up cuts and scrapes it was definitely Donatello, that child spent more time getting patched up than his three brothers combined. For one so young he was frighteningly good at cleaning cuts and scrapes.

"That hurt more than the fall!" Michelangelo complained.

"But not as much as it will if you let it get fected!" Donnie insisted.

"Infected, Donatello," He watched the jump he always saw when he spoke to the turtle upon entering a room. There was a long pause while the boy wrapped his mind around when and how Splinter had gotten there.

"in-fected,"

"He hurt me!" Mikey insisted pointing at Donnie. Before the accused could get out a word in his defense Splinter picked up the one he thought of as his youngest turtle.

"I am sure that Donatello did not do anything to hurt you. He was just making sure your cuts don't have any germs. If you don't get rid of them, the germs can make you sick."

"You never hurt Donnie when you clean him up!" Mikey insisted.

"Yes he does!"

"Thank you, Donatello, for cleaning up your brother." Splinter interrupted, then he looked at the standing turtles, "Why don't you three go play?"

He watched as they ran off toward the living room.

-------------------------------------

The next morning all four boys were sitting and waiting to see what Master Splinter had planned for them today. One turtle smiled knowingly, but was disappointed when the pretty, shiny sai was left in the cabinet. None of the things Master Splinter pulled out were shiny, and all were made of wood. When they were invited to experiment with the weapons, far away from any of their brothers of course, he found one that looked like the object in the cabinet yesterday. Snatching it up the little turtle retreated to a corner of the room and gave the sai a few swings.

Looking around the room he could see the weapons his brothers held. One held a piece of wood that looked like a big knife, another moped in the corner with what seemed to be no more than a long stick and the third had a shorter stick with a weird handle poking out the side. He was more looking at the odd thing than swinging it around. After a short time Splinter called for them to trade. The objects worked their way around the room and the turtles had a chance to explore each one under Splinter's careful supervision.

When they were dismissed three turtles left the room, but the fourth hung back for a while.

"Do we get to use those again?" The child asked hopefully, he had rather enjoyed the time with the weapons.

"Yes, we will do this again. Weapons are going to be a regular part of your training."

The little turtle smiled and started out of the dojo.

"My son," Splinter called him back. "The weapon from yesterday, is it still your favorite?"

The child looked confused.

"Now that you have had a chance to hold them in your hands, is the sai still your favorite?"

"I like it," The child explained, "but I like that one better." He said, pointing.

"Ah, the katana, I believe that might be a good match for you, Leonardo."

Leo smiled up at his sensei and father before running off to join his brothers.


End file.
